A young man accused of assaulting a security guard was yesterday spared a jail term after he convinced a court that he had been soundly beaten on the suspicion that he was a thief.
Sookram Ramnarine, 25, pleaded guilty to assaulting security guard Wilbert Horatio when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The prosecution stated that Ramnarine is a known character and had no fixed place of abode.
Prosecutor Burgett Grant said that Horatio, a security guard in the Prashad Nagar area, was sitting in his guard hut around 4:30am when he heard a strange noise and saw Ramnarine pulling his hand through the louvre panes.
Horatio raised an alarm and Ramnarine jumped the fence and ran away, Grant said, adding that he was eventually caught a short distance away. During an ensuing scuffle between the two, she said, Ramnarine hit Horatio on his right hand.
Grant said Horatio took Ramnarine to the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost, where he was subsequently charged with the offence.
Horatio was absent when the case was called yesterday. But Ramnarine told the court, “I does always go round deh and do work like sweep yard and clean gutta fuh people.” He added that the night of the assault, he was calling Horatio to ask him for something to eat and Horatio held on to him and started beating him.
“He turn and tell me is only thief man does deh round dis hour,” he added.
The court then observed that Ramnarine had marks of violence on different parts of his body. Magistrate Octive-Hamilton called Ramnarine to the well of the court to examine what he told her and there were marks of violence evident on his body.
After hearing the case, Magistrate Octive-Hamilton opined that in Guyanese custom, anyone walking around that hour is usually considered a thief.
The magistrate subsequently reprimanded Ramnarine, discharged the case against him and advised him to keep out of trouble.
